Democracy?: As the Capitalist Robber Barons Steal from the 99%: Only the 1% Voted For Austerity — The 99% Should Decide On Austerity — Not Just The 1% Who Profit From Austerity! Under Austerity, All of the World Will Eventually Be Pauperized, Humbled, and Desecrated Like Greece and Puerto Rico.
The Fourth of July— Why I celebrate the Fourth of July I celebrate and support the Declaration of Independence as a revolutionary document.
Due to the present destructive course of American capitalism, which in its quest for a Pax Americana and its perpetual wars, puts the property rights of capitalism and their ‘right’ to make a profit before, to paraphrase the Declaration of Independence, our unalienable Rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness — the right to a safe habitat for humanity and our very existence as a species; it therefore follows, that, To secure these rights, it is our right and our duty, to throw off such an economic system and its government To provide our own ‘New World Order’ to provide for our future security! To quote Fidel Castro, “Tomorrow it will be too late to do what we should have done a long time ago!” — Roland Sheppard
What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour. — Frederick Douglas, July 5, 1852
Videos of the Day:
Capitalism Tells the World: Profits Come First! Burn Baby Burn!: G20 Members Dole Out Coal Subsidies Despite Climate Crisis Talk A new report documents G20 member states giving $63.9 billion in subsidies per year to King Coal, while professing the urgency of the climate crisis. The study says this may “underestimate the actual amounts of support provided,” due to lack of transparency in finance figures U.S.:
The United States is not a Democracy (A government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly)! Only the 1%, through their ownership of the Republicrats and who profit from war and the war budget, vote for War and the war budget — A policy, which Gore Vidal called a Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace.— The 99% Should Decide On War — Not Just The 1% Who Profit From War! Under a Democracy, The 99% would have the right to vote on the policy of Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace!
Democrats Are Complicit in Trump’s Fearmongering About Immigrant YouthWhenThey See Us, Ava DuVernay’s miniseries about the wrongful convictions of the Central Park Five, was the most-watched series on Netflix during the first half of June. The runaway success of this painful series about Black and Brown boys who were caught up in a national hysteria about violent “wolfpacks” of dark-skinned youth is the latest moment in an ongoing societal reckoning with the racist mass incarceration policies of the ’80s and ’90s. Of course, not everyone is taking part in this reckoning. Donald Trump refuses to apologize for his own prominent role in persecuting the Central Park Five — in 1989 he took out full–page newspaper ads that proclaimed his desire to “hate” the accused teenagers, his hopes that they “be forced to suffer,” and for New York to bring back the death penalty. Trump continues to insist on their guilt years after overwhelming evidence exonerated them. By Danny KatchEnvironment:
Corporate Media Monger for War The corporate media seemed disappointed that President Trump “pulled back” from attacking Iran after that nation shot down a US spy drone. Said BAR senior columnist Margaret Kimberley: “For all of their alleged opposition to Trump, we can see that they are all still very much on board with the imperial project and with the belief that the United States has the right to intervene anywhere in the world, at any time.”
Starving Black Schools and Scapegoating Communities Although many urban school districts are returning to local control following state takeovers, these Black and brown schools remain underfunded, said Jeff Bryant, senior correspondent for Our Schools. “The school districts that need the most money because of poverty issues, the density of special needs students – many of these districts actually get the least money from the state” and will wind up in the same shape as before states seized control.
The Dem’s Pale Version of Green New Deal Howie Hawkins, candidate for the Green Party’s presidential nomination and the original architect of the Green New Deal, later adopted by the Greens, said leftish Democrats are putting forward a “diluted” version of his brainchild. The watered-down Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez measure is a non-binding resolution, but Hawkins notes that House Speaker Pelosi “won’t bring it to the floor for a vote.”
Eddie Africa is Free MOVE activist Eddie Africa was released from a Pennsylvania prison after four decades of incarceration in the death of a Philadelphia policeman. The officer likely died from police gunfire in the 1971 confrontation.Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, said Africa was subjected to “a kind of cruelty that most prisoners have never seen nor imagined,” including beatings and an attempt to castrate him.
Jalil Muntaqim’s Family Awaits Him Billie Bottoms Brown, the 85 year-old mother of Anthony Bottoms, also known as Jalil Abdul Muntaqim, hopes to take her son on a sea cruise if he is granted parole in September, his eleventh appearance before the board. Muntaqim has spend 48 years in prison in the death of two New York City cops. His co-defendant, Herman Bell, was released last year over the objections of the governor and the mayor. Billie Bottoms Brown says she’ll try to help Muntaqim “relax, unwind and try to reacclimatehimself to outside of those walls.”
Labor:
Economy:
One part of ehe Uncounted: Youth Who Never Were Employed: The July 2018 labor force participation rate for 16- to 24-year-old men, at 61.1 percent, was down 1.2 percentage points over the year. The rate for young women, at 60.0 percent, rose 1.2 percentage points during the same period, reducing the gap in labor force participation between young men and women. Whites had the highest youth labor force participation rate in July 2018, at 62.8 percent. The rate was 56. 5 percent for Blacks, 43.3 percent for Asians, and 58.0 percent for Hispanics. Over the year, the labor force participation rate rose for Hispanics (+1.4 percentage points) and declined for Asians (-4.1 points). The decline among Asians offset a similar increase (+4.3 percentage points) between July 2016 and 2017. Labor force participation rates in July 2018 for Whites and Blacks were essentially unchanged from a year earlier .— Employment and Unemployment Among Youth Summary
WikiLeaks Bombshell: Emails Show Citigroup Had Major Role in Shaping and Staffing Obama’s First TermSudan and Algeria have avoided mistakes of 2011Images of popular protests that recall the revolutionary movement of 2011 have dominated news from the Arabic-speaking world for months. Uprisings began in Sudan on December 19 and in Algeria with the marches of February 22. They revived memories of the huge, peaceful demonstrations early in the Arab Spring that shook Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, and Syria. Commentators have been more cautious this time, asking questions rather than commenting directly, mindful of the bitter disappointment that followed their initial euphoria over the Arab Spring. The repression of the 2011 uprising in Bahrain, crushed after only a few weeks with the help of the other oil monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), could have been the exception, given the unique characteristics of that club of states. But two years later the region entered a counterrevolutionary phase, with a new chain reaction going the other way. By Gilbert Achcar
Paul Weiss, the Law Firm that Has Represented Citigroup through Serial Fraud Charges, Is the Number One Donor to Democratic Presidential Hopeful Kamala HarrisAccording to the Center for Responsive Politics, which keeps meticulous tabs on political campaign flows, as of this morning, the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison – which has represented Citigroup through more than two decades of serial fraud charges – is the number one campaign donor to the Democratic Presidential hopeful Senator Kamala Harris. As the Center notes, the money isn’t coming from the law firm itself, but from its “PACs; their individual members, employees or owners; and those individuals’ immediate milies.” By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Algeria, Sudan…: The Seasons After the Arab Spring — Recent uprisings in Sudan and Algeria have avoided mistakes of 2011 Images of popular protests that recall the revolutionary movement of 2011 have dominated news from the Arabic-speaking world for months. Uprisings began in Sudan on December 19 and in Algeria with the marches of February 22. They revived memories of the huge, peaceful demonstrations early in the Arab Spring that shook Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, and Syria. Commentators have been more cautious this time, asking questions rather than commenting directly, mindful of the bitter disappointment that followed their initial euphoria over the Arab Spring. The repression of the 2011 uprising in Bahrain, crushed after only a few weeks with the help of the other oil monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), could have been the exception, given the unique characteristics of that club of states. But two years later the region entered a counterrevolutionary phase, with a new chain reaction going the other way. By Gilbert Achcar
WikiLeaks: Citigroup Exec Gave Obama Recommendation of Hillary for State, Eric Holder for DOJ The Presidential election of 2008 was held on November 4, with Barack Obama winning on a promise of delivering “hope” and “change” to a nation in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. At that time, Citigroup was a financial basket-case. It had already received $25 billion from the government’s bailout program known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in October; it was secretly receiving hundreds of billions of dollars more each month in below-market rate, revolving loans from the Federal Reserve — information which the Fed refused to make public despite multiple Freedom of Information Act requests from the media; and Citigroup was just 19 days from more hemorrhaging, requiring an additional government infusion of $20 billion and asset guarantees of more than $300 billion. Citigroup’s stock was at $13.99, a decline of 63 percent in just 12 months and it was on its way to eventually trade as a penny stock, at 99 cents.By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: October 11, 2016World:
Sudan and Algeria have avoided mistakes of 2011 Images of popular protests that recall the revolutionary movement of 2011 have dominated news from the Arabic-speaking world for months. Uprisings began in Sudan on December 19 and in Algeria with the marches of February 22. They revived memories of the huge, peaceful demonstrations early in the Arab Spring that shook Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, and Syria. Commentators have been more cautious this time, asking questions rather than commenting directly, mindful of the bitter disappointment that followed their initial euphoria over the Arab Spring. The repression of the 2011 uprising in Bahrain, crushed after only a few weeks with the help of the other oil monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), could have been the exception, given the unique characteristics of that club of states. But two years later the region entered a counterrevolutionary phase, with a new chain reaction going the other way. By Gilbert Achcar
Istanbul elections and the brewing crisis in TurkeyThe mayoral election in Istanbul on 23 June 2019 represents a significant blow to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) won with almost 55 percent of the vote, bringing an end to the AKP’s dominance of the city, which lasted over 20 years. Despite being a local election, it has been become a rallying point for anti-AKP sentiments and ultimately a damning referendum on the current leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. By Oliver Brotherton
Reject Colonialism; Fight Extradition Law with Class politics Hong Kong’s massive movement against the Beijing sponsored extradition law is showing no signs of fizzling out, after 500,000 people joined a march yesterday, the anniversary of the handover from Britain to Hong Kong. However, the movement is already at a crossroads, for it has reached a limit of what can be achieved without leadership and programme. By Dan MorleyHealth, Education, and Welfare:
The government of the United States can pass laws in a few days to spend tens of trillions of dollars for war and the bailout of Wall Street and the bankers. Yet, those who ‘govern’, pass universal healthcare for themselves, but they cannot spend even one trillion dollars for universal health for those who are ‘governed’! This is what is considered, by the powers the to be, a democracy and part of the democratic way. — Roland Sheppard, Let The People Vote on Healthcare!
“What to the Slave is the Fourth July?” by Frederick Douglass is not only a brilliant work of oratory. It speaks to our every frustration spurred by the gap between the ideals of the United States and the reality we witness every day; between the Bill of Rights and our decaying civil liberties; between the USA’s international declarations of human rights and the ordered drone attacks backed by presidential “kill lists”; between the words “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and a nation that leads the world in jailing its own citizens; between our highest ideals and our darkest realities. Here’s hoping people take the time to read the entirety of Douglass’s brilliant speech; even though his were words that spoke directly to his moment in history, they still ring with an unsettling power. As Douglass says: “Had I the ability, and could I reach the nation’s ear, I would today pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”— Dave Zirin
During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three Point Political Program: Austerity, Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, and The Iron Heel.
Invasion And Immigration Are Two Sides To The Same Coin
U.S.:
Environment:
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
The Resegregation of American Schools
World:
Health, Education, and Welfare: